Turn-indicator



G. M. JARVIS.

TURN INDICATOR.

Patented Sept. 25,1894.

* U ITED STATES PATENT O FICE.

CHARLESM. JARVIS, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

TURN-QINDICATOR.

a, I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 526,489, dated September 25, 1894.

Application filed November 10,1893.- fierial No. 490,548. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES M. JARVIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Erie, in the county of Erieand State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Turn-lndicators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to turn indicators especially designed for use in barbers shops, physicians offices, and in other places where people are kept in waiting and served or waited on in turn, and the object I have in View is to provide simple, efficient and cheap apparatus by which numbered checks can be automatically and successively supplied to customers to indicate the order in which they.

enter the establishment and are to be served.

With these ends in view, the invention consists in an upright casing provided with a delivery slot in one of its sides and adapted to contain the checks to be delivered, which are placed one on top of the other in the order of their numerals or indicating characters, combined with a push pin arranged in line with the delivery slot, a pull rod connected to the push pin, means for guiding and sustaining the pull rod and the push pin, and a spring connected with said pin or with said rod to return the parts to their normal positions when they are operated and to hold the push pin in such position relative to the lowermost checkof the pile or series that, when the rod is pulled out, the push pin will be operated to eject the said lower check of the pile through the slot in the casing.

To enable the checks to be easily placed in the upright casing, I construct the same in two vertical sections which are adapted to be and facility; and the invention further consists of the peculiar construction or arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

To enable others to more fully understand horizontal cross sectional View, on the plane indicated by the dotted line a: a: of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view on the planeindicated by the dotted line y y of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detailview of one of the checks. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of one member of the cabinet, detached from the base and the upright fixed member of said cabinet,

showing a pile of checks therein.

Like letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all thefigures of the drawings, referring to which- A designates the base of my indicator on which is erected the upright casing or cabinet, B. In the embodiment of the cabinet shown in the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated it as rectangular in form, and as consisting'of two sections, a, b, which are substantially U shaped in cross section to enable the sections to be fitted one within the other, see Fig. 3 of the drawings; but I would have it understood that I do not strictly confine myself to this particular form of the cabinet, as I am aware that cabinets of other form can be einployedwithout departing from the spirit of my invention. The section, a, of the cabinet is rigidly secured or attached. to the base, A, in any suitable way, but the section, b, is removably fitted within the section, a, and is not attached to the base, but

simply rests thereon when the parts are assembled to produce a complete indicatingapparatus. The section, a, constitutes the front of the cabinet or casing, and the section, b, the back thereof; and by these sections, a, b, the pile of checks 0 is completely inclosed or housed within the cabinet, while at the same time the section, b, can be readily re- ICO moved to enable the checks to be placedtherein in the order of their numerals, or other indicating characters; A removable cap or cover, 0, may be provided to close the top of the casing or cabinet, and any suitable form of locking mechanism can be employed to fasten the sections, a, 1), together. These checks, 0, are preferably made of fiat pieces of metal, and they have the owners name inscribed thereon, and a numeral, letter, or

other indicating character, as shown in Fig.

5 of the drawings. A number of these checks are provided, and they are piled one on top of the other, with the check bearing the number 1 or letter A at the bottom of the pile, check No. 2 or letter B next, and so on throughout the whole series of checks. The lowermost check for the pile is opposite to the delivery-slot, e, in the front section, a, of the upright casing, and against the rear edge ejector which, when operated, forces the check out through the delivery-slot,e. This ejector consists of the push-pin, E, arranged at the rear side of the cabinet and this push-pin is supported and guided in a tube,f, which is preferably fixed to the rear section, b, of the cabinet, or it may be fixed upon the base, A, of the apparatus. The rear end of this pushpin protrudes beyond the tubular-g uide, f, and it has a vertical slot to accommodate one end of the retracting spring, G, and a transverse aperture to receive the free end of an arm on the pull rod, H. This pull-rod, H, is arranged at one side of the upright casing or cabinet, B, and it extendsfrom the front side of the base to the rear side thereof, asshown by Fig. 3. This pull-rod is supported in upright posts, h, fixed to the base, A, in which posts the rod is. free to-slide back and forth, and at its front end the rod has a head or pull-button, it while its rear end is provided with or bent to form the arm, h", which extends substantially at right angles to the rod and which arm is fitted in the transverse aperture at the rear end of the push-pin, E. The spring G is preferably ofthe form shown by Fig. 2 of the drawings, in which the spring is shown as consistingof a coil 9 and with two oppositely extending arms, one of which armsis attached to the base, A, and the other arm is fitted in the slot at the rear part of the push-pin.

, The operation is as follows: The section,b, is taken out, the checks are piled therein in the order of their numerals or characters, and the section and checks replaced so that the lowest check is in line with the delivery-slot and is arranged so that the push-pin will impinge against the same, after which the cap, 0, is fitted over the sections to hold them together. When a person enters the establishment in which the indicator is located, the pull-rod is pulled out to force the push-pin forward and eject check No. 1 through the delivery-slot. This check is thus delivered to the customer, and, as the pull-rod-is released, the spring returns the pull-rod and push-pin to their normal positions. As the check, No. 1, is ejected, the pile of checks drops down, by gravity, and check No. 2 is brought opposite to the delivery-slot, so that when another customer enters, check N0. 2 will be delivered by pulling out the rod H, and so on, thereby indicating to the persons the order in which they are to be served.

It is evident that changes in the form and proportion of parts and in the details of construction of the mechanisms herein shown and described as 'an embodiment of my invention can be made without departing from invention, and I would therefore have it understood that I reserve the rightto make such 1 modifications and alterations as fairly fall within the scope of my invention.

of the lowest check is designed to operate an Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, iso 1. An indicator consisting of a casinghaving one of its sections mounted on a suitable base and with a removable section which is fitted within the stationary section andadapted to contain a pile of checks, combined with a. push-pin supported to operate on the lowest check of the pile and adapted to force the same through a slot in the stationary section, and a pull-rod connected with the pushpin, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. Anindicatorhavingacasingconstructed with two sections, one of which is mounted on a suitable base and provided with a delivery-slot, and the other section is removably fitted within the stationary section, combined with a push-pin supported to operate against the lowest check of the pile of checks contained Within the casing, a pull-rod connected to the push-pin, and a spring for returning the push-pin and pull-rod to their normal positions, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In a turn indicator, the casing comprising a stationary slotted section and a removable section detachably fitted within the stationary section and having a bottom plate on which the checks can be stacked, a tubular guide on said removable section in line with the delivery slot in said casing, a push-pin fitted in said guide, a pull rod supported in fixed posts at one side of the casing and having an arm connected to the push-pin, and aspring fixed at one end to a base of the cas- 

